TRAC (Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse)
Federal enforcement data obtained through FOIA — immigration courts, IRS audits, federal prosecutions, staffing. Built by and for journalists at Syracuse University.
What should journalists know about TRAC (Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse)?
TRAC is one of the most important data sources in American journalism, and most journalists have never heard of it. Founded in 1989 by Susan B. Long (a Syracuse University statistician) and David Burnham (a former New York Times investigative reporter who died in October 2024), TRAC uses FOIA litigation — actual lawsuits against federal agencies — to extract enforcement data the government does not voluntarily publish. The result is a unique database covering immigration court proceedings, federal criminal prosecutions, IRS audit rates, federal agency staffing levels, and more. This is not data you can get anywhere else. TRAC's immigration data is particularly valuable: case-by-case immigration court records, deportation statistics, asylum outcomes by judge, detention facility populations, and enforcement action timelines. Major newsrooms cite TRAC regularly — it has been the data backbone for immigration reporting for two decades. In February 2025, TRAC migrated from its Syracuse University domain to tracreports.org, operated by TRAC Reports Inc. The migration followed changes at the university. All reports and data tools have been moved to the new domain. In 2025, TRAC launched the David Burnham Legacy Grant ($25,000) for investigative reporting using TRAC data. The main limitation is that TRAC's data depends on FOIA — when agencies delay or resist disclosure, the data lags. The current administration's approach to FOIA compliance affects TRAC's ability to obtain current data.
Immigration court data — case outcomes, asylum decisions by judge, backlog statistics, detention data. Federal criminal prosecution patterns by district, offense type, and agency. IRS audit rates by income level and geography. Federal agency staffing and resource allocation data. Any reporting that needs enforcement data the government does not voluntarily publish.
State or local enforcement data. Real-time enforcement activity. Campaign finance or political data. Court records and case filings (use PACER for that). Comprehensive federal spending data (use USASpending.gov). Data from agencies that have successfully resisted TRAC's FOIA requests.
Security & Privacy
Data is scrambled while being sent to their servers
Data is scrambled when stored on their servers
Where servers are located — affects which governments can request your data
Privacy policy summary
TRAC's public data tools do not require registration for basic access. The underlying data is federal enforcement records obtained through FOIA — it is public record. TRAC is an academic and journalistic research organization, not a commercial data broker. Standard web analytics apply. No advertising or commercial tracking.
How to protect yourself:
Most TRAC data tools are accessible without registration. The data is derived from federal records obtained through FOIA, so it is public information. Always cite TRAC as your source and note the FOIA origin of the data. Cross-reference TRAC data with official agency statistics where available — TRAC data may be more current or more granular than what agencies publish voluntarily. Note the domain migration: current URL is tracreports.org, though trac.syr.edu may still redirect. For immigration data, TRAC's judge-level outcome data is unique and cannot be verified against other public sources.
Nonprofit research organization with a 35-year track record of handling sensitive federal enforcement data. HTTPS on both domains. The data itself is public record obtained through FOIA. No commercial tracking. The main considerations are organizational: TRAC is a small operation dependent on grant funding, and the domain migration introduces a transition period. For the nature of the data and the use case, security is adequate.
Who Owns This
Known issues
The February 2025 migration from Syracuse University to tracreports.org may cause broken links in older citations and bookmarks. Data freshness depends entirely on FOIA compliance — when agencies delay or deny requests, TRAC's data lags. The current political climate around immigration enforcement has increased both the demand for TRAC data and the difficulty of obtaining it. David Burnham's death in October 2024 was a significant loss; Dr. Susan Long continues as sole director. The organization's long-term sustainability as a small nonprofit depends on continued grant funding.
Pricing
Free for most data tools and reports. Some advanced query tools and detailed data access may require institutional subscription. TRAC has historically provided free access to journalists and researchers.
This is an editorial assessment based on publicly available information as of 2026-04-11, using our published methodology. Independent security review is pending. Security posture can change at any time. This is not a guarantee of safety.
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